snow cancellation Bible study (Pastor Greg Hudson, 01/11/25)

Dear God, we thank you so much for all that you do.

We thank you for safety and for protection.

And God, I know that it's a little different today, but it can also be exciting and fun

to see snow and to recognize something different in our world.

And so Lord, as we are enjoying a Sabbath in a different way, may our hearts just be

open to you and to your Holy Spirit and just continue to be with us wherever we are today.

In your name we pray, amen.

So in that Bible study that was on the little Sabbath at home ideas down at the bottom,

the first thing suggested sharing a story that you might have of something involving

snow, some experience that you've had with snow in your life.

Now I grew up, most of you know I grew up in Tennessee and so there was not very much

snow.

So when there was snow, it was often fairly memorable.

And so I remember one time, I don't remember my age, but for one particular day, the news

was that Knoxville, Tennessee was the coldest place in the country on that particular day.

And it was 23 degrees below zero.

And I remember that because we, our neighbors had a pond.

And so all the neighborhood kids went over to that pond and it was frozen thick.

And so we were able to go out and we called it hockey, but it was really kicking, you

know, a rock or something around on the pond.

So that was a memorable day in the snow that I had.

And of course, I also remember and some of you probably remember this as well, the blizzard

of 93.

Where were you in 1993?

In 1993, I was a student at Southern Adventist University, then called Southern College.

And I was actually home visiting family on that particular weekend.

And that's when the big snow fell.

And if you weren't around here, it was like 18 inches of snow.

It shut things down for many, many days.

And not only that, it was Friday night and I remember I was home and I had a knock on

the door from my dad Sabbath morning.

And he's like, don't worry about getting up.

There's you know, a foot of snow outside.

We're not going to go to church.

And so I always remember my dad woke me up to tell me that I could sleep in on that particular

Sabbath morning.

And I think that's what happened to Jolie this morning as she woke up to then find out

that she the first instruction was that she could have slept in.

So she was giving me a hard time about that.

And then one more story that I've probably told some of you before.

When I was in seminary up at Andrews University, of course, they got a lot of snow.

But the very first time that it snowed when I was up there was on Friday night.

And it snowed about four inches.

So about what we got up here, maybe a tiny bit more.

But being from here, if it snowed this much like today, we would not have church.

And so I called the pastor of the church that I was helping out as a little church called

Coloma about 25 or 30 minutes from Andrews.

And I said, are we having church today?

And he's like, well, it's it's Sabbath, isn't it?

Of course we're having church.

And I said, well, there's there's four inches of snow.

And this pastor in Michigan just kind of laughed at me and said, well, you have a lot to learn.

And so again, I recognize that our roads were probably clear, but we just wanted to make

sure that everybody is safe because driving here in Tennessee and Georgia is different

than Michigan and other places that people have lived because snow plows only a few.

And the roads, I've been to some of your homes and they're very curvy and twisty.

And so that's why we're gathering this this way today.

So I hope that you had the opportunity to share some snow stories with people in your

family that you've some things that you've had in some experiences in the snow.

So just reflecting on snow, there's a couple Bible verses that when people think of snow,

these are the verses that they always go to.

And if you watch the little video I made yesterday when Jolie was throwing snowballs at me, those

were the two verses that that I talked about.

The first one is an Isaiah, chapter one.

And we're not going to look at these except I just want to mention them.

But Isaiah one and verse 18, it says, Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord,

though your sins are like scarlet red, they shall be as white as snow.

Though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool.

So our sins will be covered over our sins will be whiter than snow.

And then another verse that people often think of when they think of snow is in Psalm 51.

This is the story when David had had that grievous sin with Bathsheba and Nathan had

come in.

And after he had confessed his sin.

This is when he composed this prayer, the Psalm 51, where it says wash me thoroughly

from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

And then in verse seven, David writes, Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.

Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

And then just a few verses later, it says, Create in me a clean heart and renew a steadfast

spirit within me.

So incredible powerful verses about snow.

But what I want to look at today is a different one.

And that is in Isaiah 55.

Isaiah 55 is where we want to go.

Isaiah 55.

An incredible chapter all the way through Isaiah 55.

It starts off and it says in Isaiah 55 one, Ho, everyone who thirsts come to the waters

and you have no money come buy and eat.

Yes, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.

When we have snow around here, many people flock to the stores and we buy milk and we

buy bread and we buy eggs.

But this says if you're thirsty, come and you don't have to pay for what God wants to

give us.

It's a free gift.

And then just a few verses later in verse six, Isaiah 55 and verse six, it says, Seek

the Lord while he may be found.

Call upon him while he is near.

Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts.

Let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy on him.

So it says, Seek the Lord while he may be found.

Wherever we are, we can be looking for God because we know that God is waiting for us.

We know that God is calling out to us and he's seeking after us.

And then it says in the next verse, for my thoughts are not your thoughts.

And then verse nine, God says, my ways, God's ways are higher than your ways and God's thoughts,

my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.

But the verse about snow is in verse 10, Isaiah 55 and verse 10.

It says, for as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven and does not return there,

but water the earth and make it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower

and bread to the eater.

So it's talking about some natural things.

It says the rain falls and the snow comes down.

And it says that it has a purpose.

And the purpose of the rain and the snow is to water this earth, to provide moisture so

that things can grow.

And we would recognize now that our brothers and sisters out in California, they wish that

they had some rain falling from heaven or even some snow falling to help put out some

of those fires.

And we may think, oh, really, I don't think of snow when I think of Israel and when I

think of the Bible lands.

But believe it or not, it does snow in Israel.

We usually think of, you know, hot and desert and different things like that.

But when I had the opportunity to be in Israel about probably eight years ago, it was like

a heat wave.

It was the hottest time of the year and the hottest year that they'd had in a long time.

But they do have snow, particularly a place called Mount Hermon, which is on the north

side of the country on the border with Syria.

And in fact, Mount Hermon has a ski resort.

It's the only ski resort in Israel.

But unfortunately, because of the conflict with the borders and different things, it's

been closed for the last two years.

But I was looking up because I wanted to see the elevation.

And so Mount Hermon has an elevation of 9,232 feet.

So that's a very tall mountain.

And so on that mountaintop of Mount Hermon, they get snow.

And in fact, just around New Year's Eve, they had about two feet of snow.

And so I just kind of thought that that was interesting that we don't think of snow in

the Holy Land, in the Bible land, but snow is there.

And so this verse talks about snow coming down from heaven.

And it's got a purpose.

It says it's going to water the earth.

And in verse 11, God says, So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth.

It shall not return to me void, but shall accomplish what I am doing for it.

So God says, you know what?

God says that he is going to accomplish the purpose.

His word is going to accomplish what it is supposed to be doing.

So God says this rain, the snow is going to accomplish what it's supposed to.

And then it says, So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth.

It shall accomplish what I please.

God's word is going to make a difference in the lives of the people and what is going

on and what is happening.

God's word is going to make a difference.

God's word is going to do something incredible.

And so we can recognize that when we take time to be in God's word, that that makes

a difference in our life because that's what God has said it's going to do.

And so what is God's word going to accomplish?

We've talked about it as we start off a new year that we need to be spending time in God's

word.

And so I just want to look at one more verse here in 2 Timothy chapter three.

Paul writes an incredible thought about God's word, and it's probably something that you've

memorized at some point in the past.

It says in 2 Timothy 3 verse 15, it says that from childhood, you have known the Holy Scriptures,

2 Timothy 3:15

which are able to, here's what God's word is going to do.

It's going to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is what God's word is

going to do, which is in Christ Jesus.

God's word is going to make you wise for salvation through faith.

It's going to bring you to Jesus.

It's going to help you to have faith in Jesus.

And then verse 16 says all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable.

It's of value.

It's from God and it's profitable for several things, for doctrine.

We can learn about God.

We can learn about his love.

And then it says for reproof, for correction, for the things that we're falling short in,

the times when we're distracted from God.

Scripture is going to correct us and bring us back to the path that we need to be on.

And then it says for instruction in righteousness.

So God's word gives us wisdom for salvation.

It gives us instruction for righteousness, how we can live our life for God.

And then it says that the person of God, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly

equipped for every good work.

If you want to live your life for God, if you want to be thoroughly equipped to serve

God, then make sure that you're spending some time in his word.

Not just because it's the beginning of the year, not just because of anything else that's

happening, but because it'll make you wise for salvation.

It will correct the areas of your life and bring you back to a path towards God.

And it will help you to be thoroughly equipped for God in all that you do as you serve others,

as you serve your family, as you serve your church.

Want to look back at Isaiah 55, because there was one more section to that incredible chapter.

It talked about the snow falls, the rain falls, and it completes its purpose.

God's word is going to complete its purpose.

And then the very next verse says, you shall go out with joy and be led forth in peace.

When we serve God, when we allow God into our life, when we recognize his salvation,

as we go out into our life and into our world, we're going to have joy and we're going to

have peace, even when we have challenging times in life.

Let me tell you one more snow story, and then I'll let you get back to spending time with

your family on this snow day Sabbath.

I mentioned being in Michigan and that it snowed on Friday night and four inches.

We still had church.

I shoveled the driveway.

We drove 25 minutes to church.

But it seemed like that first winter, every time it snowed, it snowed on Friday night.

So Sabbath morning, I'd be shoveling the driveway to make sure that I could go to church the

next day.

One Sabbath morning, it snowed and I was looking out and, okay, I got to put my boots on.

It's cold.

I got to bundle up.

And about that time, I heard a noise and it was like an engine.

It was like a chainsaw or a lawnmower or something like that.

And I looked out my window and my next door neighbor, he had a riding lawnmower, but on

the front of it, like many people in Michigan do, it had a snowblower attachment.

And he was out there.

He cranked up his snowblower.

But as I looked out the window, he was not cleaning off his driveway.

He was cleaning off my driveway.

He had seen me out there on Saturday mornings shoveling snow numerous times.

This gentleman was not a Seventh-day Adventist.

I'm not sure if he even went to church, but he had seen me out there and he said, you

know what?

I can make a difference in this young man's life.

And so he cranked up his snowblower and he cleaned my driveway off in about five minutes.

What a difference that made for me that morning.

As this says, you can go out with joy and be led forth, led out with peace.

And that's what God wants to do for us.

God wants to make a difference in your life.

So make sure no matter what you're doing today, that you're taking a little bit of time to

be in God's word, that you're studying with him, that you're allowing God to give you

what were those things, wisdom for salvation, instruction for righteousness, and so that

you can be thoroughly equipped.

And then you can make a difference in somebody else's life.

Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.

Dear God, thank you.

Thank you for your word.

Thank you for your protection.

Thank you for your safety and your salvation.

Be with each person no matter where they are today.

Guide them and keep them safe.

In your name we pray.

Amen.

And now as we close, we're going to have a special music and that's going to be you singing

to the people that you're with.

So enjoy your song and have a wonderful Sabbath afternoon.

Bye bye.